Valve



Apl 27, 194s. o, C, MARTIN 312628 VALVE Original Filed March 11, 1940 2Sheets-Sheet l I 0775 C /I/Pr/N,

INVENTOR ATTORNEY April 27, 1943. l O. c. MARTIN VALVE Original FiledMavrch 11, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 l 1| f v f Or/s AMW/Af, INVENTORATTORNEY Patented Apr. 27, 1943 .Otis C. Martin, Los Angeles, Calif.

Originalv application March 11, 1940, Serial No. 323,376, now Patent No.2,279,693, datedApril 14, 1942. (Divided and this application April 30,1941, Serial No. 391,072

s claims. (ci. 277-20) My invention relates to valves and has particu--lar reference to a valve for controlling hydraulic or pneumaticpressure.

This application is a division of my copending application SeriaiNo.323,376, illed March 11, 1940, now Patent No. 2,279,693, granted Apr.14, 1942, and entitled Valve. i

' In fluid operated power apparatus, the types of valves which haveheretofore been used have been for the most part relatively large, heavyand cumbersome pieces of apparatus and have required the completedisconnection of the valves from ,the pipe lines whenever repairs arerequired forthe purpose.

In many industries the iluid power apparatus requirements are such thata relatively large number of valves must be conveniently located at asingle control station so thatl such large and,

weighty pieces of apparatus are not readily adapted for compact mountingin a single control station.

For example, many of the functions of modern airplanes are controlled byeither hydraulic or pneumatic power apparatus, the valves forcontrolling which must be located in the pilots compartment and, as canbe readily appreciated, not only the 'space requirements but the weightrequirements of the valves become an important factor. Moreover, thevalves should be capable of ready access for repair and should require aminimum of disconnection of pipe lines in order to permit such repair orreplacement of parts.

It is therefore an object of my invention to` provide a valve forcontrolling iluid power apparatus in which the valves may be madeextremely light and extremely small so as to permit the ready mountingof large numbers of the valves in a small space.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve of the characterset forth in the preceding paragraph wherein the operating parts of thevalves are readily accessible, and more particularly may be readilyremoved and replaced without requiring the disconnection of any of thepipe lines.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve oi the characterSet forth which is readily adapted to use in connection with othercontrol apparatus and in which a relatively small movement of anoperating lever or handle is required to open and close the valve partswhile permitting unrestricted additional movement of the operating leveror handle to permit sequential operatio'n of the valve andother controldevices.

Another object of my invention is to provide a valve of the characterset forth in which a Z-Way valve is mounted in a single chamber topermit the ready passage of iluid between the chamber and one pipe lineand between the chamber and another pipe line or to permit closing ofthe chamber to both lines selectively.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be apparent from astudy of vthe following specifications, read in connection with theaccompanying drawings, wherein 'Fig'. 1 is a perspective View of a valvecons tructed in accordance with my invention and illustrateddiagrammatically as being connected to a 2-way piston and cylinder fluidpower apparatus;

Fig. 2is a vertical sectionalview taken through the valve illustrated inFig. 1, and illustrating the valve parts in closed position;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view similar to Fig. 2 but illustratingthe position of the valve parts upon operation of the valve handle tomove 1 the fluid power mechanism in one direction;

Fig. 4 is a detail elevational view of the operating shaft of my valve;

Fig. 5 is a transverse sectional view taken along l line V-V of Fig. 4;

' Duralumin.

Fig. 6 isv a similar transverse sectional view taken along line VI-VI ofFig. 4:

Fig. 7 is an exploded view illustrating the assembly of the valve partsincludedin onechamber of one valve; and

Fig. 8 is a fragmentary sectional view taken along line VIII-VIII ofFig. 2.

Referring to the drawings, I have illustrated in Fig. 1 a valvel lconstructed in accordance with my invention, suchrvalve including a bodymay be connected, respectively, the pipe lines coupling my valve to asuitable source of pressure supply and to an operating fluid powerapparatus, one form'of which is illustratedV diagrammatically in Fig. 1as including a cylinder 1 in which operates a piston 8 coupled by meansof a piston rod 9 to some piece'of apparatus to be actuated thereby.

Referring particularly-toFiga 1 and 2, it will be observed that port 3constitutes an inlet port for iiuid pressure, to which may be coupled apipe line I extending from a suitable source of pressure supply (notshown). The exhaust port 4 is 'similarly coupled to a pipe line II whichmay extend back to the pressure supply or may merely permit exhaustingof the fluid pressure to the atmosphere. 'I'he port 5 has connectedthereto a pipe line I2 which is illustrated as extending to the forwardend-of the cylinder 1 while the port 8 has connected thereto a pipe lineI3 which extends to the opposite end of the cylinder 1.

As will be observed from an inspection of Fig. 2, the ports 3, 4, and 6may be bored and threaded to take any of the standard pipe linecouplingsor connectors such as illustrated at I4.

Disposed between the ports 3 and 6 is a valve chamber A formed directlyin the body 2 of myvalve, as by forming a bore which extends verticallydown through the valve body 2, the uppermost lportion of the bore beingenlarged and threaded, as indicated at I5, to receive a cap nut I6.Immediately below the portion I5 is an enlarged chamber I1, the metal ofthe body at the lower side of the chamber I1 being tapered to form anupper valve seat I8. Below the valve seat I8 the bore is again enlargedas indicated at I9, the metal of the body at the lower side of thisenlargement being tapered as indicated at to form a second or lowervalve seat, immediately beneath which is a third enlargement 2l, fromwhich a plurality of small bores 22 extend into a transverse bore 23adapted to receive and house an operating shaft 24 by which thevalvestructure to be hereinafter described may be manipulated.

In order to adapt my valve for 4-way operation, as for example for thecontrolling of a reversible piston and cylinder apparatus 1 and 8, Iprovide a second valve chamber bore B disposed between the ports 3 and5, this bore constituting a duplicate of the valve chamber borehereinbefore described including sections I5a, I'Ia, isa, 2 Ia and upperand lower valve seats I8a and 20a and small bores 22a corresponding inall respects to parts I5, I1, I8, I9, 20, 2| and 22 hereinbeforedescribed. -A

In the valve chamber A I provide a valve assembly, the parts of whichare illustrated particularly in Fig. 6 as including an upper valvemember 25 which includes a stem 26, upon the upper end of which is anenlarged head 21 formed with upwardly disposed shoulders 428 upon whichthe lower end of a valve closing spring 29 may rest, a portion of thehead 21 being formed with a suitable diameter to extend upwardly withinthe helix formed by the spring 29 to act as a guide for this spring. Thelower portion of the head 21 is tapered as indicated at 30 to form atapered seating surface adapted to seat upon the valve seat surface I8while the head 21 is undercut as indicated at 3| for the purpose ofreceiving the upper end of a second valve closing spring 32.

A lower valve member 33,comprises essentially a cylindrical sleevehaving an interna1 longitudinal bore 34 adapted to receive and pass thestem 26 of the upper valve member 25 and having an enlargement of thisbore at the upper end of the valve member 33, as indicated at 35, intowhich may be received a packing gland or ring 36 adapted to effectivelyprevent leakage of fluid pressure between the stem 25 and the bore 34.

The lower valve member 33 is provided alongits outer wall with aninwardly and downwardly tapered seating face 31 adapted to seat upon theseating surface28. If desired, such seating surface 31 may be readilyformedby cutting an annular groove 38 about the valve member 31, whichgroove will not only form the seating surface but will also provide forgreater freedom of flow of fluid into the chamber 2Ia when the valve 33is open.

To achieve effective sealing between the stem 26 and the bore 34, Iprefer to make the packing member 36 in the form of an annular ringhaving an annular groove 39 extending from the upper face of the packingring so that the effect of fluid pressure upon the upper side of thering 39 will be to expand the packing ring into snug engagement bothwith the stem'26 and with the walls of'the enlarged bore 35 in the valvemember 33. This ring 36 may be formed of rubber, Neoprene or othersuitable material and to insure against possible collapse of the ring 36I prefer to employ a spreader washer 49 disposed about the stem 26 andhaving a downwardly extending longitudinal flange 4I adapted to bereceived in the groove 39. The upper face of the washer 40 alsoconstitutes an effective seat for the lower end of the valve closingspring 32. The assembly illustrated in Fig. 6 maybe inserted into thevalve chamber A through the open upper end of the bore forming thischamber and will be held in place by means of the cap screw I6 which Iprefer to form with a socket 42 to receive and guide the upper end ofthe valve closing spring 29. l v

Referring particularly to Fig. 3, it will be apparent that when thevalve assembly is disposed within the bore or chamber A, the upper valvemember 25 will be tightly pressed against its seat I8 by means of thespring 29 with the extreme lower end of the stem 26 of this valve memberprotruding below the lower end of the valve member 33. Likewise thevalve member 33 will be pressed tightly against its seat 23 by means ofthe spring 32, which bears at its upper end against the valve member`25. It will be noted therefore that the upper spring 29 must beconsiderably stronger than the spring 32 so that the valve 33 may beopened by upward movement relative to the valve 25 while the suchduplication making for economical production.

The intercommunication between the ports 3, 5 and 6 and the valve.chambers A and B is readily made by the methods described and claimed inmy copending application Serial No. 330,752, filed April 20, 1940,wherein it is described that the valve chambers A and B are formed byproviding ilrst a straight bore through the valve body 2, after whichsuitable tools described in the said application are employed to enlargeportions of this bore to form the enlarged sections or chambers I1, I9and 2|.

Similarly, as described in the said copending application, the ports 3,5 and 6 may be formed by extending bores from the upper face of thevalve body 2 to the desired depth, as indicated in Fig. 2, and then bythe use of suitable tools described in the said application the lowerends of these bores may be enlarged suiiiciently that the enlargedportions of the port bores intersect the enlarged portions of the valvechamber is concentric with the axis of rotation of the the lower end ofthe port 3 has an enlarged portion43 which intersects the enlargement4I1 of chamber A and I'ta of chamber B so that uid entering port 3 maypass directly into the enlargements or chambers I1 and -I 1a for both ofthe valve assemblies. Also it will be noted that shaft 24 while duringthe first 60 of such motion the lower end of port 5 has an enlargement44 which intersects the enlargement of chamber B and port 6 has anenlargement 45 intersecting enlargement I9 of chamber A. Thus if valvemember 25 in chamber A is open, pressure passing into port 3 will beallowed to pass valve 25 in chamber A into enlargement I9, thence toenlargement 45 in po'rt 8 and out through port 6 through pipe I3 to theleft-hand end of cylinder 1. At the same time pressure from theright-hand end of the cylinder 1 will enter through pipe I2 and port 5and will pass through enlargement 44 and enlargement I9a from chamber Bso that if at this time valve member 33a in chamber B is open suchpressure will pass down to enlargement 2Ia and through the small bores22a and into the handle chamber 23.

At this point it should bevnoted that the lefthand end of the handlechamber 23 communicates directly with exhaust -port 4 and, as will beobserved from an inspection of Figs. 2 and 4, the valve operating-shaftis provided with means which permits fluid to flow past the shaft 24 andout of port 4.

The operating shaft 24 comprises a rod-like member, the extremeleft-hand end of which is provided with a short bore 46 extendinglongitudinally into the end of the shaft so that a row ofholes 41extending radially through that end of the shaft will provideintercommunication between shaft chamber 23 and the bore 46 to theexhaust port 4.` 'I'hat part of the operating shaft 24 which is disposedimmediately below the valve assembly in chamber A is provided withcamvsurfaces including `a central surface 48, the length of whichlongitudinally of the shaft 24 is slightly in excess of the diameter ofthe protruding lower end of the stem 26 of the valve member 25. Arrangedon each side of this central cam surface 48 is a pair of duplicate camsurfaces 49 adapted to engage the lower end of the lower valve member33.

Similarly, that portion of the shaft which is disposed immediately belowthe valve chamber B is provided with cam surfaces 50 and 5I engaging,respectively, the lower end of the valve of the shaft 24 the cam surface50 will lift the valve stem 26a, the entire movement between the fullyclosed position of the valve 25a and its fully open position beingaccomplished during the irst- 50 but is disposed 120 out of phase withthe surface 5I)v and that the cam surfaces 49y are identical'with camsurfaces 5I but are likewise disposed 120 out of phase with the surface5I. It follows therefore that asthe handle shaft is rotated in acounterclockwise direction through the 60 movement necessary to fullyopen valve 25a, valve 25 in chamber A will remain closed since its stemis riding upon the concentric portion of cam surface 48 and at the sametime the cam surfaces 49 will move the lower valve mem` ber 33 inchamber A to its fully open position,

This is the arrangement of the valve positions shown in Fig. 3.

Thus fluid pressure coming from the source of pressure from the pipe I0and into andthrough the port 3 will pass down through the now open valve25a and thence through port 5 and line I2 to the right-hand end of thecylinder 1, the exhaust from the opposite end 'of the cylinder 1 passingthrough pipe I3 and into and through port 6, from whence it passesthrough the now open valve 33 in chamber A and through small bores 22into the shaft chamber 23. It will be noted from an inspection of Fig. 8that the shaft bore 23 is enlarged immediately adjacent each of thevvalve chambers A and B so that the small bores22 may freely dischargeinto the shaft bore 23, the fluid then passing through the holes 41 inthe shaft 24 and thence to the exhaust port 4.

With the valve in this position, it is apparent that the piston 8 willbe moved toward the lefthand end of the cylinder 1 and may be stopped inany intermediate position merely by restoring the operating handle 42 toAits vertical position which will accomplish the closure of the valve25a and valve 33, locking the hydraulic system in a stationarycondition.

ber 33 disposed in chamber B.

Referring particularly to Fig. 2, it will be observed that the operatingshaft 24 is in the correct position to allow all four of the valvemembers to bein closed position. For convenience this will be assumed tobe the position when a handle -52 on the operating shaft 24 is in avertical position.

Now by observing Fig; 5, it will be noted that the cam surface is soformed that when the handle isin the vertical position the stem 26aofthe valve member 25a will rest upon'the lowes*l dwell of the cam. Itwill also be observedl that when the handle is 'in the Vertical positionthe cam surfaces 5I are so disposed below the lower end of the valvemember 33a as to -present the lowermost dwell of these surfaces to thevalve 33a. However, with rotation of the handle member 52 to the left(that is, in a counterclockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 5),the cam surface 5I will continue to present to the valve member 33a thatportion of its surface 5Ia which as. heretofore described, cause theopening of Similarly movement of the' handle 52 in a clockwise directionwill, by reason of the shape and location of the cam surfaces on theshaft 24,

valve 25 in chamber A and the opening of valve 33a in chamber B, thuspermitting pressure fluid in the pipe I0 to pass through the port 3through now open valve 25 and through port 6 into pipe line I3 to theleft-hand end of the cylinder, where the exhaust from the right-hand endof the cylinder passes through pipe I2, port 5, now open valve 33a, andthrough the small bores 22a into the shaft bore 23. To permit the fluidex- -hausted through thesmall bores 22a to pass to the exhaust port 4, Iprefer to provide a grooved or flattened portion 53 on the part of theshaft 24 which is disposedy between the cam surfaces 48 and 50. Thus thefluid may pass along the shaft '24 and through the holes 41 and thenceto the exhaust port 4.

To facilitate the construction of-my valve, IV y prefer to provide apair of bores 54 and 55 aligned, respectively, with the boresconstituting the'chambers A and B. which bores 54 and 55 may be madesuillciently large in diameter to readily admit the drilling toolsrequired to drill A the multiplicity of small bores '22 and 22a in eachof the valve chambers. In forming auch bores 54 and 55, I prefer toallow the drill to penetrate into the valve block 2 a suilicientdistance to come flush with or `iust pass beyond the upper side of thelongitudinal shaft bore 23 so that a substantially at surface 56 isformed immediately at the end of each of the valve chambers A and B topermit ready drilling of the small bores 22 and 22a. The bores 54 and 55may then be plugged as by using cap screws 51 and-53 threaded into thebores 54 and 55 and sealed therein lby means of suitable gaskets 59. Itwill be noted' that, like the cap screws i6, there is an internal socket60 in each of the cap screws 5l which provides a relatively large nuidreceiving chamber through which the discharge from valves 33 and 33a mayreadily pass and permits more ready communication between the grooves 53on the shaft 24 with the fluid receiving chambers disposed beneath eachof the valve chambers A and B and thus facilitate the passage of fluidfrom the valve 33a to the exhaust port 4.

Another feature of my valve is that of providing for relatively simplemachining operationsl by which all parts of the valve may be constructedand to this end 1 employ as the valve operating shaft 24 a simple lengthof round metal stock and form the cam surfaces thereon in such mannerthat the original round stock constitutes the bearing surface which willrotatably bear upon the interior surfaces of a simple drilled holeextending from the right-hand end of my valve, as viewed in Fig. 2, to apoint 6l spaced slightly to the left of the lower end of the valvechamber A. Thus a multiplicity of excellent bearing surfaces areprovided in the bore 23 for rotatably mounting the shaft 24 and yetprovides for the ready passage of the fluid from the exterlor of theshaft to the interior thereof at that end of the shaft immediatelyadjacent the exhaust port' 4.

The shaft 24 may be held in place within the valve block 2 as byproviding a washer member 63 at the right-hand end of the shaft whichmay be readily attached to the right-hand end surface of the block 2 bymeans of suitable screws 64. The Washer 63 is provided with a small bore65 through which the extreme or handle end of the shaft 24 may projectwhile a shoulder 66 may be formed upon the shaft 24 to abut either theinner surface of the washer or a corresponding shoulder 61 formed in thewasher 63. The

shaft may be readily packed against leakage as by providing an enlargedportion 63 of the shaft bore 23 immediately adjacent the right-hand endof the block 2` and into which may be pressed an annular packing ring 69of rubber, "Neoprene or other suitable material, such ring 63, like thepacking rings 36, being provided with an annularv groove upon theirinner faces which will permit fluid pressure to expand the ring intotight sealing relation with the shaft and with the block 2. Again toprevent collapse of such ring, an annular ring of metal may be providedto be,

received in the groove of the packing ring 69.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that my valve may bereadily constructed with a series of relatively simple drilling andboring operations while the arrangement of the intersecting enlargementsof the various bores provides for the intercommunicating passagesbetween the ports and the valve chambers. Moreover, such arrangementpermits the ports 3, 6 and 6 to be arranged in a straight line withrespect to each other while the valve bores may also be arranged in thesame straight line whereby the entire thickness of the block 2 may bemade extremely small. The only limit to be placed upon this thickness isto insure an adequate thickness of wall between the side surfaces of thevalve block and the largest portion I9 of the valve chamber. By actualtest a valve capable of handling 1000 pounds per square inch pressuremay be made by employing my construction, with a total thickness of oneinch, a total height of two inches and a total length of three inches.

Moreover, it will be noted that all of the ports 3, 4, 5 and 6 as wellas the bores through the block for the reception of the valve assembliesand the shaft are all made from the narrow edge faces of the block,leaving the two side surfaces of the valve entirely free from openingsor other possible obstructions and thus permitting these valves to beassembled one immediately against the other without interfering withready access to all ofthe valve parts and without interfering with theready connection of pipelines to the various ports. This shape andconstruction also permits the ready mounting of the valves as by move,repair and replace any of the valve parts is to remove the cap screwsI6,- whereupon the entire valve assembly shown in Fig. 'l can be bodilyremoved from the valve and a new assembly or such new parts as may berequired may be inserted. Also the shaft may be readily removed withoutdisconnection of any of the pipe lines by merely removing the valveassemblies and then removing the shaft.

As pointed out hereinbefore, the movement of the handle 52 away from itsvertical position in either direction will operate the valves whilemovement of the handle through or less may be utilized to completelyopen the valves. The

further movement of the handle through the remaining portions of 180from the vertical causes no further'change in the position of thevalves. This is of great importance in certain types of controls,particularly for airplanes, wherein by interconnecting the handles orshafts of several of these valves with a lever or connecting bar, onevalve may be fully opened during a small amount of movement of theconnecting bar while another valve may be opened by a still furthermovement of the bar, another valve may be opened by a still furthermovement of the bar, permitting at least three valves to be operated ina desired sequence and insuring complete operation of each of thevalves.

-Also in connection with the operation of bomb release mechanism, thevalves may be readily employed on a single operating bar or lever'whereby the initial movement of the lever will open the bombcompartment doors, another portion of the operation of the lever or barmay be utilized to control a second-valve to lower the bomb carriers,while an additional movement of the lever or bar may trip the bombrelease triggers.

While as described herein the valve seats may be formed directly uponthe metal of the body block 2. particularly when such block isconstructed of such materials as Duralumin and employed with valvemembers of steel or similar metal, it will be apparent to those skilledin this art that separate valve seats may be formed as inserts to beplaced within the valve bores to constitute the actual seating surfacesupon which the valve members may rest.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, I do not desire to be limited to any of the details ofconstruction shown or described herein, except as defined in theappended claims.

" I claim:

1. In a fluid control valve, a body member, a.

valve chamber bore extending from' one surface of said body member, apair of valve seats arranged in longitudinally spaced relation alongsaid bore, a valve assembly in said bore including an upper valve seatedupon the uppermost of said seats, a second valve member seated upcn thelowermost of said seats and havmga bore extending longitudinallytherethrough, said bore being enlarged at its upper end4 to define acylindrical recess, a stem upon said upper valve extending through saidbore and projecting beyond the lower end of said secon.. imlve, a1 i aof said seats, a second valve member seated upon the lowermost of saidseats and having a bore extending longitudinally therethrough, said borebeing enlarged at its upper end to dene a cylindrical recess, a stemupon said upper valve extending through said bore and projecting beyondthe lower end of said second valve, a packing ring surrounding said stemdisposed in said recess and having a relatively deep annular grooveformed in'its upper surface, whereby fluid pressure exerted on the uppersurface of said ring spreads the same into sealing relation between saidvalve and stem to prevent leakage of fluid between said stem and saidsecond valve, and an annular spreader member surrounding' said stem andextending into said groove to`prevent collapse of said ring away fromsaid stem upon release of said fluid pressure.

3. In a uld control valve, a body member, a

ranged in longitudinally spaced relation along .packing ring surroundingsaid stem disposed in said recess and having a relatively deep annularface of said body member, a pair of valve seats said bore, a valveassembly in said bore including an upper valve seated upon the uppermostof said seats, a second valve member seated upon spreads the same intosealing relation between said valve and stem to prevent leakage of nuidbetween said stem and said second valve. an annular spreader membersurrounding said stem and extending into said groove to prevent collapseof said ring away from said stem upon release of said nuid pressure, andspring means engaging the upper surface or said spreader member andurging said spreader member into said groove.

- o'rrs c. MARTIN.

